This silky, cheesy dip celebrates New Mexico's famous hatch chiles, which are only available in the late summer and early fall. If you are lucky enough to see them at the market, be sure to bring some home. Enjoy them right away or roast before freezing to enjoy year-round (or buy some of the great frozen options available). And skip the fancy cheese counter for this recipe: You'll achieve a smoother queso texture with super-melty cheese from the dairy aisle of the supermarket.

I could eat a simple bowl of rice, black beans, salsa, and cheddar cheese any day, but this recipe takes that concept to the next level. [Taco Rice](/recipes/food/views/51222630) gives this casserole an ultra-flavorful base to build upon and a mélange of vegetables provides more texture and flavor than you can shake a maraca at. A little cheddar cheese thrown on top is like icing on the cake to this yummy Southwest casserole. So come on, get your veggie on!

Why have plain white rice when you can have taco rice instead? Taco rice slices, it dices, it juliennes... okay, maybe not, but it _does_ have many different uses. Eat it as a side dish, stuff it into a burrito, use it as a base for a bean-and-rice bowl, or use it as a base for a casserole, like in my [Southwest Veggie & Rice Casserole](/recipes/food/views/51222620) . Taco rice doesn't take much more time than cooking regular white rice, but has so much more to brag about.

The Suffering Bastard is a 1940s tiki standby that was originally made with bourbon and gin as its base. This variation utilizes cask-strength True Blue corn whiskey from Balcones Distilling in Waco, with a nod to that city's famous teetotaling population.

In Texas, barbecue is about beef: specifically brisket, the cut by which any joint is judged. Brisket has become a favorite of restaurant chefs, too, hence the smoke ribbons and Hank Williams songs drifting out of restaurants as far away as Brooklyn. But can great brisket be made at home? I devoted a weekend to the task and learned that with a few key ingredients— salt, pepper, patience, and advice from Aaron Franklin, my neighbor and the pitmaster at Franklin Barbecue in Austin—swoonworthy results are doable. You just have to take the time—12 smoky hours.
Brisket (from the cow's breast or lower chest) is rich in connective tissue, so it requires a low-and-slow process to relax the muscle into tender goodness—a pleasure that can't be achieved with a quicker method. Luckily, those first unforgettable bites are worth the weekend. So let's get started.

Simmering a whole chicken guarantees a great base for Reusing's take on tortilla soup: "You get everything out of a whole chicken without a lot of work. Anyone can do it." Build even more flavor by using corn cobs to bolster the broth. When serving, lay out the garnishes and salsa so guests can customize their bowls; those finishing touches bring the dish together.

Francis Butler grew up on the family ranch and continues to preside over the dry, windy land. The lonesomeness of ranch life, she says, was offset by "group cooks" such as the annual Thanksgiving tamale making: "Wild turkey hunting has been a West Texas sport for as long as anybody remembers, and tamale-stuffed turkey may have been an early tip of the hat to the Mexican ranch hands who've been around for at least as long as the turkey. This recipe dates back to the early 1900s. I got it from a family whose grandmother was German but had been raised in Mexico. I make it most often in the cold months, but I've been known to put a tamale-stuffed turkey in the roasting pit in my time, as well. You can use commercial tamales, of course, but I like the two-day ritual of making tamales and then making the turkey. I always double or triple the tamales and freeze the extra. These days people use more barnyard turkey than they do wild. Before you go thinking that's a sorry thing, let me tell you this. You feed your chickens or turkey some chile peppers before you decide. That spicy sweet flavor gets into the meat and you know what they mean when they say it doesn't get any better."
This stuffing is also delicious in chicken and squab. Serve with high-quality corn chips, salsa, and sour cream.

The yellow pepper mole may have lots of ingredients, but the result is a delightfully complex sauce. Golden raisins and white chocolate preserve the golden color of the roasted peppers, and while those may sound sweet, onion, garlic, and tomatillos keep the sauce savory, fresh, and never cloying. At the restaurant we give this a hint of smoked red pepper sauce and cilantro oil and garnish it with cilantro.

**Home turf:** New Mexico
**Local flavor:** Southwestern-style chili is all about the chiles (with an "e"), as in this pillar of regional cooking, chile verde. The chiles are green and mild (New Mexico's famous hatch chiles are perfect), and the meat is pork. Tangy tomatillos balance the chiles and coat the slow-cooked pork. To up the regional cred, serve it "Christmas" style—with a combo of green and red chiles.
**Make it a meal:** Serve with warm corn tortillas, avocado and spinach salad with honey-lime vinaigrette, and a dark beer like Negra Modelo (Mexico, $8 per six-pack).
If you can find it, use dried Mexican oregano in this recipe. It has a smoky flavor that dried Mediterranean oregano doesn't have. Look for it at Latin markets.

At Matt's Rancho Martinez in Dallas, they have an appetizer called fried avocados. The deep-fried wedges are served with romaine lettuce "taco shells," cilantro, slivers of carrots and jicama, and other fixin's. "I got the idea from Vietnamese restaurants," said Marco Martinez, son of the late Matt Martinez Jr. "The lettuce rolls are great for people on the Atkins diet, too; they put their fajitas on them. We use soy sauce on the fajitas—we borrow lots of things from Asian cooking." Making Viet-Mex salad rolls is sort of like making lettuce tacos. Put all the ingredients out on the table and let everybody "roll their own."